If your kids are hoping to rake in the big bucks when they lose their baby teeth, they might be out of luck. The Tooth Fairy paid less this year than last and seems to have gotten stingier in general lately.
Kids earned an average of $3.19 a tooth in 2015, compared to $3.43 last year, according to Visa’s annual Tooth Fairy survey. That’s after her rates hit an all-time high of $3.70 a pop in 2013.
“The Tooth Fairy is finally fluttering back to Earth,” Nat Sillin, Visa’s director of global financial education, said in a statement. Kids can expect to earn a total of $64 in teeth-losing income, according to Forbes.
The Tooth Fairy has also been showing favoritism among well-off families living in the Northeast. For kids whose parents make less than $75,000 a year, she pays just $3.07 a tooth, but those with higher household incomes make $3.46, according to UPI. Nor’easterners have an even sweeter deal, earning on average $3.56 for every lost tooth tucked under the pillow, compared to $3.07 each for little ones in the South.
Visa’s poll results were calculated based on 4,027 phone interviews done earlier in the summer, said Forbes, which estimated TF’s net worth at $3.9 billion when it ranked the world’s richest fictional characters a few years ago.
Is the Tooth Fairy is struggling in the up-and-down economy, saving up for something important or just feeling less generous and cheaper these days? Is she disgusted by all the germs on our toothbrushes? Or is it something else entirely?
No one really knows. But whatever the case may be, tell us what happens in your house when your children lose their teeth. How much does the Tooth Fairy leave your kids under their pillows?
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